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Summary
Summary
Young readers are given an emotionally powerful yet accessible introduction to what it is like having a close family member with Alzheimer's disease in this deeply resonant story about the relationship between a girl and her grandmother.
Grandma's whole family is concerned as they start to notice that she is becoming more and more forgetful. After they find her wandering the neighborhood, they need to make an important decision on her behalf--that the time has come for her to move out of her house and into an assisted living community where she can have the best care possible.
Author Notes
Nancy Van Laan is the author of such beloved picture books as Rainbow Crow, Little Baby Bobby, and the Parents' Choice Award winner Possum Come a-Knockin', among others. She lives in the mountains of New York.
Stephanie Graegin is the illustrator of Water in the Park by Emily Jenkins, called "a wonderfully fresh look at a timeless topic" by Booklist in a starred review; Happy Birthday, Bunny! by Liz Garton Scanlon; and Don't Feed the Boy by Irene Latham. Stephanie lives in Brooklyn, New York. Visit her at graegin.com.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3-When her grandmother begins exhibiting signs of Alzheimer's disease, Julia and her parents must come to terms with the illness and get her the care she needs. Grandma's slow alteration rings true: forgetting names, losing the car in a parking lot, and getting lost in a oft-visited place. Though the illustrations depict the child as quite young, her narration is rather adult in tone: "I remember when Grandma was still her old sweet self," "ever so slowly, like a low tide leaving the bay, a change came along," and, "When she sees her bed all abloom.." The mother's explanation of the disease is nonthreatening and easy for a child to understand. The pencil and ink washes, finished digitally and varying in size, subtly show how Grandma is becoming forgetful, from the dying plants and a watering can in the house to her mismatched socks and unkempt hair. Pair this with Mary Bahr's The Memory Box (Albert Whitman, 1992), which introduces the idea of how to preserve memories before they are lost forever.-Maryann H. Owen, Children's Literature Specialist, Mt. Pleasant, WI (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
As Alzheimer's slowly robs Grandma of the ability to function, Julia and her parents struggle on both the emotional and practical fronts. Sometimes it seems like their strategies are spot on: after Grandma accuses her new caretaker of thievery, the family starts taking her out on cleaning days "for a long ride to nowhere special," Julia notes. "She loved that." But despite their best efforts to keep Grandma in the home she loves, her memory loss and wandering eventually pose a real danger, and she must go live in what Mama describes as "a place that will give her the special care she needs." In their sensitive, reportorial approach, Van Laan (Nit-Pickin') and Graegin (You Were the First) acknowledge readers' ability to handle this heart-wrenching subject matter while also granting them a measure of distance. By portraying Julia as a partner in Grandma's well-being and care, the authors salute her competence and compassion, and show how it is possible to carry on, even in the face of a sad, scary, and inexorable decline. Ages 4-8. Illustrator's agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Julia remembers how her grandmother used to be, when she "was still her old sweet self, doing the things she had always done," and then describes the progression of her age-related memory problems. Julia's love for her grandmother, and her devastation when her grandmother eventually doesn't recognize her, are keenly felt, and the text never loses its focus on the child's perspective. The tone is unsentimental but doesn't avoid the difficulty of the subject, and the particulars of the grandmother's decline--from seemingly silly mistakes to more dangerous misadventures--are related with unflinching directness. The warmly shaded illustrations contrsat cozy, contained home spaces with open public spaces, subtly underscoring the grandmother's increasing anxiety and loss of control over her life. Frequent images of family photographs on the walls help draw readers' attention to the importance of memories, as does the forget-me-not motif, which Van Laan ties into Julia's hopes for bringing joy into her grandmother's life, despite her losses. A powerful, clear-eyed meditation on one girl's loving but painful relationship with a beloved aging relative. claire e. gross(c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A delicate, perceptive look at an elderly loved one with dementia.Julias grandmothers eyes sparkled like candles on a cake, and she always smelled like lilac and cinnamon whenever they cuddled up close. But lately, ever so slowly, like a low tide leaving the bay, a change came along. Julias grandma is becoming more and more forgetful. Van Laan gently takes readers through the different stages of dementia, from Grandma forgetting names (she liked to scramble our names for breakfast instead of eggs) and then events, forgetting where she parked, mixing things up in the kitchen and repeating herself to eventually wandering outside in a snowstorm and being unable to care for herself. Told from Julias perspective, the story is tinged with the little girls confusion and worry, but the ultimate tone is one of love and reassurance. Julia knows there is no cure but still hugs her grandma tight every time they visit. A soft palette of warm greens and yellows and the unmistakable blue of forget-me-not flowers blankets readers in a wash of grandmotherly comfort.Poignant but not overly sentimentaland actually quite light in some placesthis quiet offering opens up a discussion of a condition that affects many. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Julia is young but old enough to remember when Grandma was still her old sweet self. Julia has memories of sharing meals, cuddling, and taking day trips. As Grandma begins to forget these things, Julia is happy to remind her it's like a guessing game. But silly, forgotten names become quarts of milk left on the nightstand, confused trips to the grocery store, and blank looks. When the decision is made to move Grandma out of her home, there is nothing that Julia can do but to keep loving her, hoping that she can bring back whatever it was that made her eyes twinkle like candles on a cake. Van Laan's gentle, tender text is perfectly complemented by Graegin's pencil-and-ink illustrations. The palette is soft, with bright memories counterpointed by encroaching darker shades. The symbolism of the forget-me-not is used sparingly throughout the story, so that its poignancy is not diminished. This is a delicate book about a heartbreaking subject that does not minimize the loss nor sentimentalize Julia's response.--Dean, Kara Copyright 2014 Booklist
